linux guest drivers kit

The corresponding kernel tree can found in the virtio branch of kvm.git.

building an external module with older kernels

This only works for the x86 architecture.

1. If you wish to use a distribution kernel (or just some random kernel you like) with kvm,
you can get both the userspace and kernel (via git). In the userspace
toplevel directory, type:

./configure [--kerneldir=/path/to/kernel/dir]

2. If you are using a released kvm-XX.tar.gz, skip to step 3. If you got the source from git, you need to run the following commands:

cd kernel
make sync LINUX=/path/to/kvm/git/tree
cd ..

3. Finally, build KVM and the KVM modules:

make

There are three important directories in this scenario:

kvm-userspace

Contains a kernel subdirectory. If you got the source from git, it needs to be populated with files from the kvm.git repository (using make sync).

host kernel tree

Older kernel you want to use newer KVM modules with. Refer to it with configure --kerneldir.

You need to point to a configured kernel source tree corresponding to the kernel you are building modules for. The default is to look for the sources of the running kernel at /lib/modules/`uname -r`/build.

kvm kernel tree (from git)

A clone of the kvm.git repository. Used as the source of the KVM modules. Refer to it with LINUX=path in make sync.

release tags

kvm releases are tagged with kvm-nn where nn is the release number.

Binary Packages

CentOS / RHEL

nightly snapshots

Nightly snapshots, for those who are uncomfortable with git, are available. When reporting a problem with a snapshot, please quote the snapshot name (which includes the date) and the contents of the SOURCES file in the snapshot tarball.